I got a Ml sometime ago for hire stock and to use on our own shows, as to this day it has never been out on hire as customers have heard how bad it is and when they have had a demo they just hate it. I even took it out on one of my own shows to see what all the fuss was about sometime ago it did not even make it to the plotting session! Due to not being able to patch in colour scrollers correctly , let alone some of the basics that other desks can do.

I will this weekend be loading the latest software on to the desk and have another go to see how things have moved forward in prep for a show I may use it on in 2 weeks times. I somehow think from the posts on here it has not really moved forward much and I will end up using another desk from stock that will do the job yet again. if this ends up being that case then it will be good bye Strand ML250 as I will sell it on.

I've been a Strand man for many years and have been trained and worked with some of the best people in the industry 2 of them being the co founders of Stage Electrics. I even worked very closely with the RND team at Strand on the GSX/LBX/400/500 series desks with the software development which ended up being one of the most widely used desk in theatres here in the UK and on tour. I even still have a 530i which is still going stronge after all these years.

Maybe is time to call it a day with Strand and move on to company's that can deliver products that work.

I understand the way you feel. However, whether it's Strand or any other company, I wouldn't base my opinion of a company on one product. (ETC and Smartfade). Maybe the 250ML is not for you and your market. That's fine. Hopefully we have another console that you can get excited about.

Dear Bobby
You say the software engineers have other projects.
then why, you give these answers?
. I will discuss with the software lead.
. Sent to the developer
. Good idea. Sent to the developer.
. I don't know if that can change. I will ask
. This is likely what we will see for a few weeks as Chinese New Year is upon us and the software engineers will be taking a holiday. However, I'll request and propose.

This console deserves to finish its software, even if it's a small console, out of respect to your customers, you have to complete the development of the software and correct bugs that remain.Have you the authority to request changes or Not?
I hope, if you are able to do something with the software engineers! this is continue improving the console once and for all.
I would not want this small console have the same reputation as the Lightpalette!
Waiting of your answer
Philippe

I give you those answers because that is what I have done. I don't bullshit people and hope you don't feel that I have. I have sent the info and requested a response. There are several product specialists, we all send info to the software engineers as things come up. I don't have a daily schedule of the software engineers as they work for the engineering department and I work for the product marketing division.

I can't speak to everyone that develops consoles but I don't believe that a console is ever finished. Development work should continue until the decision is made to no longer sell the product. That doesn't always happen but it should.

You are right. The 250ML is a small desk but I agree that it doesn't mean that it should be treated with any less focus on development.

I personally feel that the LightPalette series of console is a fine console line. It has an amazing amount of power and has no comparison to the 250ML when it comes to features and capacities. It's night and day.

I appreciate your feedback on this and empathize with your passion. I will pass this on and do my best. That is all that I can do.

I spent 3 days getting my head around the ML just over 2 week ago before taking it out on a show of Evita with 14 moving heads, 12 x led wash fittings and 22 x generic lanterns I struggled with the desk doing very odd things with the custom made fixtures I had created. I even re created the fixtures a few times and got different results! The fixture creation software looks and feels like it was put together in a rush. On some fixtures I could not use 901@level cmd. Not sure what is going on with the clear clear and clear clear clear cmd and when you try to select a channel or channels on the wheel it always captures all channels! It's really annoying that the default fade time of 0.3 can not been changed in the setup, also the desk is in move fade (MF) mode by default and there is no option to set it to cross fade (XF) mode by default in setup which is a perfered way of plotting cues by many lighting designers here in the UK. when saving a show you have to save it as different name each time. I had 3 fixtures which the intensity value for 0% was dmx 255, the desk could not cope with this at all. During the run of the show there was some very odd things going on with attributes of the fixtures not being actioned on a cue, then when you run the same cues at the end of the show it was ok. It's really enjoying that the exit button in the LCD menus keeps moving a round this could have been planned better. In all there are so many thing wrong with the software on this desk which really should have been addressed by now. I have pages of notes I have made over the past 2 weeks regarding all the problems I have had. But feel if I spend the time and post them all nothing will happen as some of them have been posted by others before and nothing has happened about them since this desk was released. One truly unhappy customer!

I think PJA hits the nail on the head. I don't doubt your good faith, Bobby, but there's no evidence that anyone in the company is backing up your fine words with actions. From previous conversations, I got the feeling that you have similar frustrations to some of us about this board, and maybe being part of a big corporate like Philips prevents you from being open about that.

But this forum is not a marketing one, it's a product and technical one. If you are so constrained, then you're the wrong person to run it: I want an engineer with authority telling me what the true story is, explaining why so many of the bugs, and many of the excellent suggestions, haven't been dealt with, and a realistic answer about whether there's any point keeping going with this very substandard product.

And as for 'maybe getting excited' about some of your other products: dream on. What on earth sort of comfort is it supposed to be that you make other products better if I've got the duff one? It certainly doesn't cut any ice with our clients! To be brutal, you'd have to reimburse me for the money I spent on this before I'd even look at another Strand desk, and even then I'd probably say no. I shall also voice my opinion of this desk and Philip's support on every forum and at every gathering I attend, in the hope of sparing anyone else the pain we on this forum have gone through.